Soups

The key to fresh tomato flavor in our creamy gazpacho Andaluz recipe was salting the tomatoes and letting them sit to release more flavor. We then followed the same process with the other vegetables—cucumber, bell pepper, and onion—and soaked the bread, which we used to thicken the soup, in the exuded vegetable juices. A final dash of olive oil and sherry vinegar further brightened the flavor of our gazpacho, and a diced-vegetable garnish made our creamy gazpacho recipe look as fresh as it tasted.

Overcooking the broccoli in our Broccoli-Cheese Soup recipe coaxed all the flavor out of it. Adding a bit of baking soda to the cooking water sped up the cooking process, and pureeing fresh baby spinach along with the other ingredients brightened the Broccoli-Cheese Soup’s bright green color and enhanced its vegetable flavor. Finally, cheddar and Parmesan gave our soup adequate cheesy flavor without making it heavy. To make a vegetarian version of this soup, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. 

When it comes to using up leftover ingredients, chefs are not that different from the rest of us. Foie gras and truffle oil might not be in your refrigerator or pantry, but you may have lobster shells left from a celebration dinner, as Andrew Wilkinson did one day.

I’m not anti-recipe (obviously), but some things just don’t need them — and most vegetable soups fall into that category. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for making vegetable (vegetarian and, for the most part, vegan) soups with common ingredients, a variety of choices and terrific flavor. Print the following page, stick it on your refrigerator and work your way through it. By the time you’re done — 12 days or 12 weeks later — you’ll never again need a recipe for vegetable soup. Promise.

Apolinaras and I ventured back to HMart on Super Bowl Sunday and enjoyed big bowls of udon soup for lunch from the Japanese section of food court. We always go back and forth on what to order because everything looks so tasty, but I think we made a good choice, because the soup was just delicious and packed with thin slices of tofu, seaweed, green onions, and broccoli– so good! We’d also never had udon noodles before and had a great time slurping them up.

Some people say that the best part of a big roast turkey is that it lasts: not just the meat, but the bones, which you can simmer into something wonderful the next day. If you’re a small group for the feast, you can make a boneless breast, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Or you can roast a half breast on the bone and when the celebration is over, the fun begins. In this case, the breast roasts over a bed of butternut squash, red onions, and russet potatoes.

A well-stocked pantry is a good starting point for making a hearty homemade soup like this one. Just add some fresh vegetables, bread and cheese and you've got dinner (and tomorrow's lunch).

 Just the thought of lentil soup, a classic favorite, can arouse heady associations of warm, savory satisfaction.

This version, from Real Simple magazine, overflows with good things to round out its rich flavor spectrum: leeks and kale, tomatoes and sweet potato, thyme and basil, plus a dusting of Parmesan chees, if you like.

As for the lentils: The magazine's editors point out that "basic brown lentils hold their shape better during cooking than pricier red and yellow lentils, so they're terrific for soups."